For my criminology class I had to read an article about the personality traits of a criminal, and if those traits make certain people more prone to criminal activity.
The article is called "Personality and Crime: Are Some People Crime Prone?" The article was researched and written by many criminologists and psychologists, Avshalom Caspi, Terrie Moffitt, Phil Silva, Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, Robert Krueger, and Pamela Schmutte. The article stated that the researchers found that it's not just genetic factors that lead people to become criminals, but it's genetic factors influenced by environmental factors.
The researchers conducted a study in New Zealand where they did a longitudinal study of kids from birth to age 18. At 18, the kids were given a self-report personality inventory. The researches studied these self-report inventories along with official data sources concerning each individual's delinquency record.
The researchers used a modified version of the Multidimensional Personality Questionaire (MPQ). The MPQ is designed to assess individual differences in affective and behavioral style. "The 177-item version of the MPQ yields 10 different personality scales...The 10 scales constituting the MPQ can be viewed at the higher-order level as defining three superfactors: Constraint, Negative Emotionality, and Positive Emotionality (Tellegen, 1985;Tellegen and Waller, press)..."
People high on the constraint factor usually have conventional social norms, avoid thrills, and act cautiously, and tend to have a restrained manner. People ranking high on negative emotionality have a low threshold for negative emotions (fear, anxiety, anger, etc.), and usually break down under stress. People ranking high on positive emotionality scale have a low threshold for positive interaction in work and social environments, and have a positive outlook on life.
The research shows that "..positive emotionality was not associated significantly with delinquent behavior.." and "...persons involved in serious criminal behavior scored significantly lower on MPQ Constraint and significantly higher on Negative Emotionality..." (Caspi et al, 1994)
The second study the researchers conducted was in Pittsburgh, and they were studying inner-city youths 12-13 years of age of caucasion and African-American races to see if racial or ecological factors influence delinquency. This study used the California Child Q-sort (CCQ), which is a common language personality assessment given to the caregivers (parents, teachers, and self-reports) of the inner-city youths. The results showed that "Across all three data sources, Constraint and Negative Emotionality emerged as robust correlates of delinquency among both black and white adolescents....The negative correlations with Constraint suggested that delinquent adolescents were likely to be impulsive, danger-seeking, and rejecting of conventional values. Positive Emotionality was not associated robustly with delinquent behavior..."
This article also mentions that a low level of serotonin in the brain produces impulsivity and greater negative affectivity. Inmates in prison have been tested, and inmates who had a history of violence and impulsivity had low levels of serotonin. The effects of low serotonin levels can be linked to low constraint which "generates in turn a vulnerability to criminal behavior." (Caspi et al, 1994)
Unfortunately, you have to sign in to read the full article, but here is the link to get you to the page with the authors' information and an abstract about the article, feel free to sign in if you are interested in reading the full article.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119264723/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Krueger, R. F., & Schmutte, P. S.
(1994, May). Personality and Crime: Are Some People Crime Prone? Criminology, 32(2), 163-196.
Leave a comment